locale

- subset of a user's environment that depends on language and cultural conventions

Description

A locale is the definition of the subset of a user's environment
that depends on language and cultural conventions. It is made up from
one or more categories. Each category is identified by its name and
controls specific aspects of the behavior of components of the system. Category names
correspond to the following environment variable names:

LC_CTYPE

Character classification and case conversion.

LC_COLLATE

Collation order.

LC_TIME

Date and time formats.

LC_NUMERIC

Numeric formatting.

LC_MONETARY

Monetary formatting.

LC_MESSAGES

Formats of informative and diagnostic messages and interactive responses.

The standard utilities base their behavior on the current locale, as
defined in the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section for each utility. The behavior of
some of the C-language functions will also be modified based on the
current locale, as defined by the last call to setlocale(3C).

Locales other than those supplied by the implementation can be created by
the application via the localedef(1) utility. The value that is used to
specify a locale when using environment variables will be the string specified as
the name operand to localedef when the locale was created. The
strings “C” and “POSIX” are reserved as identifiers for the POSIX locale.

Applications can select the desired locale by invoking the setlocale() function with
the appropriate value. If the function is invoked with an empty string,
such as:

setlocale(LC_ALL, "");

the value of the corresponding environment variable is used. If the environment
variable is unset or is set to the empty string, the
setlocale() function sets the appropriate environment.

Locale Definition

Locales can be described with the file format accepted by the localedef
utility.

The locale definition file must contain one or more locale category source
definitions, and must not contain more than one definition for the same
locale category.

A category source definition consists of a category header, a category body
and a category trailer. A category header consists of the character string
naming of the category, beginning with the characters LC_. The category trailer
consists of the string END, followed by one or more blank characters and
the string used in the corresponding category header.

The category body consists of one or more lines of text. Each
line contains an identifier, optionally followed by one or more operands. Identifiers
are either keywords, identifying a particular locale element, or collating elements. Each
keyword within a locale must have a unique name (that is, two categories
cannot have a commonly-named keyword). No keyword can start with the characters
LC_. Identifiers must be separated from the operands by one or
more blank characters.

Operands must be characters, collating elements, or strings of characters. Strings must
be enclosed in double-quotes (“). Literal double-quotes within strings must be preceded
by the <escape character>, as described below. When a keyword is followed by more
than one operand, the operands must be separated by semicolons (;). Blank
characters are allowed both before and after a semicolon.

The first category header in the file can be preceded by a
line modifying the comment character. It has the following format, starting in
column 1:

"comment_char %c\n",<comment character>

The comment character defaults to the number sign (#). Blank lines and
lines containing the <comment character> in the first position are ignored.

The first category header in the file can be preceded by a
line modifying the escape character to be used in the file. It
has the following format, starting in column 1:

"escape_char %c\n",<escape character>

The escape character defaults to backslash.

A line can be continued by placing an escape character as the
last character on the line; this continuation character will be discarded from
the input. Although the implementation need not accept any one portion of
a continued line with a length exceeding {LINE_MAX} bytes, it places no limits
on the accumulated length of the continued line. Comment lines cannot be
continued on a subsequent line using an escaped newline character.

Individual characters, characters in strings, and collating elements must be represented using
symbolic names, as defined below. In addition, characters can be represented using
the characters themselves or as octal, hexadecimal or decimal constants. When non-symbolic
notation is used, the resultant locale definitions will in many cases not be
portable between systems. The left angle bracket (<) is a reserved symbol,
denoting the start of a symbolic name; when used to represent itself
it must be preceded by the escape character. The following rules apply
to character representation:

A character can be represented via a symbolic name, enclosed within angle brackets < and >. The symbolic name, including the angle brackets, must exactly match a symbolic name defined in the charmap file specified via the localedef-f option, and will be replaced by a character value determined from the value associated with the symbolic name in the charmap file. The use of a symbolic name not found in the charmap file constitutes an error, unless the category is LC_CTYPE or LC_COLLATE, in which case it constitutes a warning condition (see localedef(1) for a description of action resulting from errors and warnings). The specification of a symbolic name in a collating-element or collating-symbol section that duplicates a symbolic name in the charmap file (if present) is an error. Use of the escape character or a right angle bracket within a symbolic name is invalid unless the character is preceded by the escape character.

Example:

<C>;<c-cedilla> "<M><a><y>"

A character can be represented by the character itself, in which case the value of the character is implementation-dependent. Within a string, the double-quote character, the escape character and the right angle bracket character must be escaped (preceded by the escape character) to be interpreted as the character itself. Outside strings, the characters

, ; < >escape_char

must be escaped to be interpreted as the character itself.

Example:

c "May"

A character can be represented as an octal constant. An octal constant is specified as the escape character followed by two or more octal digits. Each constant represents a byte value. Multi-byte values can be represented by concatenated constants specified in byte order with the last constant specifying the least significant byte of the character.

Example:

\143;\347;\143\150 "\115\141\171"

A character can be represented as a hexadecimal constant. A hexadecimal constant is specified as the escape character followed by an x followed by two or more hexadecimal digits. Each constant represents a byte value. Multi-byte values can be represented by concatenated constants specified in byte order with the last constant specifying the least significant byte of the character.

Example:

\x63;\xe7;\x63\x68 "\x4d\x61\x79"

A character can be represented as a decimal constant. A decimal constant is specified as the escape character followed by a d followed by two or more decimal digits. Each constant represents a byte value. Multi-byte values can be represented by concatenated constants specified in byte order with the last constant specifying the least significant byte of the character.

Example:

\d99;\d231;\d99\d104 "\d77\d97\d121"

Only characters existing in the character set for which the locale definition is created can be specified, whether using symbolic names, the characters themselves, or octal, decimal or hexadecimal constants. If a charmap file is present, only characters defined in the charmap can be specified using octal, decimal or hexadecimal constants. Symbolic names not present in the charmap file can be specified and will be ignored, as specified under item 1 above.

LC_CTYPE

The LC_CTYPE category defines character classification, case conversion and other character
attributes. In addition, a series of characters can be represented by three
adjacent periods representing an ellipsis symbol (...). The ellipsis specification is interpreted as
meaning that all values between the values preceding and following it represent
valid characters. The ellipsis specification is valid only within a single encoded
character set, that is, within a group of characters of the same
size. An ellipsis is interpreted as including in the list all characters with
an encoded value higher than the encoded value of the character preceding
the ellipsis and lower than the encoded value of the character following
the ellipsis.

Example:

\x30;...;\x39;

includes in the character class all characters with encoded values between the
endpoints.

The following keywords are recognized. In the descriptions, the term ``automatically included''
means that it is not an error either to include or omit
any of the referenced characters.

The character classes digit, xdigit, lower, upper, and space have a set
of automatically included characters. These only need to be specified if the
character values (that is, encoding) differ from the implementation default values.

upper

Define characters to be classified as upper-case letters.

In the POSIX locale, the 26 upper-case letters are included:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In a locale definition file, no character specified for the keywords cntrl, digit, punct, or space can be specified. The upper-case letters A to Z are automatically included in this class.

lower

Define characters to be classified as lower-case letters. In the POSIX locale, the 26 lower-case letters are included:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

In a locale definition file, no character specified for the keywords cntrl, digit, punct, or space can be specified. The lower-case letters a to z of the portable character set are automatically included in this class.

alpha

Define characters to be classified as letters.

In the POSIX locale, all characters in the classes upper and lower are included.

In a locale definition file, no character specified for the keywords cntrl, digit, punct, or space can be specified. Characters classified as either upper or lower are automatically included in this class.

digit

Define the characters to be classified as numeric digits.

In the POSIX locale, only

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

are included.

In a locale definition file, only the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 can be specified, and in contiguous ascending sequence by numerical value. The digits 0 to 9 of the portable character set are automatically included in this class.

The definition of character class digit requires that only ten characters; the ones defining digits can be specified; alternative digits (for example, Hindi or Kanji) cannot be specified here.

alnum

Define characters to be classified as letters and numeric digits. Only the characters specified for the alpha and digit keywords are specified. Characters specified for the keywords alpha and digit are automatically included in this class.

space

Define characters to be classified as white-space characters.

In the POSIX locale, at a minimum, the characters SPACE, FORMFEED, NEWLINE, CARRIAGE RETURN, TAB, and VERTICAL TAB are included.

In a locale definition file, no character specified for the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, graph, or xdigit can be specified. The characters SPACE, FORMFEED, NEWLINE, CARRIAGE RETURN, TAB, and VERTICAL TAB of the portable character set, and any characters included in the class blank are automatically included in this class.

cntrl

Define characters to be classified as control characters.

In the POSIX locale, no characters in classes alpha or print are included.

In a locale definition file, no character specified for the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, punct, graph, print, or xdigit can be specified.

punct

Define characters to be classified as punctuation characters.

In the POSIX locale, neither the space character nor any characters in classes alpha, digit, or cntrl are included.

In a locale definition file, no character specified for the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, cntrl, xdigit or as the space character can be specified.

graph

Define characters to be classified as printable characters, not including the space character.

In the POSIX locale, all characters in classes alpha, digit, and punct are included; no characters in class cntrl are included.

In a locale definition file, characters specified for the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, xdigit, and punct are automatically included in this class. No character specified for the keyword cntrl can be specified.

print

Define characters to be classified as printable characters, including the space character.

In the POSIX locale, all characters in class graph are included; no characters in class cntrl are included.

In a locale definition file, characters specified for the keywords upper, lower, alpha, digit, xdigit, punct, and the space character are automatically included in this class. No character specified for the keyword cntrl can be specified.

xdigit

Define the characters to be classified as hexadecimal digits.

In the POSIX locale, only:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F a b c d e f

are included.

In a locale definition file, only the characters defined for the class digit can be specified, in contiguous ascending sequence by numerical value, followed by one or more sets of six characters representing the hexadecimal digits 10 to 15 inclusive, with each set in ascending order (for example A, B, C, D, E, F, a, b, c, d, e, f). The digits 0 to 9, the upper-case letters A to F and the lower-case letters a to f of the portable character set are automatically included in this class.

The definition of character class xdigit requires that the characters included in character class digit be included here also.

blank

Define characters to be classified as blank characters.

In the POSIX locale, only the space and tab characters are included.

In a locale definition file, the characters space and tab are automatically included in this class.

charclass

Define one or more locale-specific character class names as strings separated by semicolons. Each named character class can then be defined subsequently in the LC_CTYPE definition. A character class name consists of at least one and at most {CHARCLASS_NAME_MAX} bytes of alphanumeric characters from the portable filename character set. The first character of a character class name cannot be a digit. The name cannot match any of the LC_CTYPE keywords defined in this document.

charclass-name

Define characters to be classified as belonging to the named locale-specific character class. In the POSIX locale, the locale-specific named character classes need not exist. If a class name is defined by a charclass keyword, but no characters are subsequently assigned to it, this is not an error; it represents a class without any characters belonging to it. The charclass-name can be used as the property argument to the wctype(3C) function, in regular expression and shell pattern-matching bracket expressions, and by the tr(1) command.

toupper

Define the mapping of lower-case letters to upper-case letters.

In the POSIX locale, at a minimum, the 26 lower-case characters:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

are mapped to the corresponding 26 upper-case characters:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In a locale definition file, the operand consists of character pairs, separated by semicolons. The characters in each character pair are separated by a comma and the pair enclosed by parentheses. The first character in each pair is the lower-case letter, the second the corresponding upper-case letter. Only characters specified for the keywords lower and upper can be specified. The lower-case letters a to z, and their corresponding upper-case letters A to Z, of the portable character set are automatically included in this mapping, but only when the toupper keyword is omitted from the locale definition.

tolower

Define the mapping of upper-case letters to lower-case letters.

In the POSIX locale, at a minimum, the 26 upper-case characters:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

are mapped to the corresponding 26 lower-case characters:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

In a locale definition file, the operand consists of character pairs, separated by semicolons. The characters in each character pair are separated by a comma and the pair enclosed by parentheses. The first character in each pair is the upper-case letter, the second the corresponding lower-case letter. Only characters specified for the keywords lower and upper can be specified. If the tolower keyword is omitted from the locale definition, the mapping will be the reverse mapping of the one specified for toupper.

A collation sequence definition defines the relative order between collating elements (characters
and multi-character collating elements) in the locale. This order is expressed in
terms of collation values, that is, by assigning each element one or
more collation values (also known as collation weights). The following capabilities are provided:

Multi-character collating elements. Specification of multi-character collating elements (that is, sequences of two or more characters to be collated as an entity).

User-defined ordering of collating elements. Each collating element is assigned a collation value defining its order in the character (or basic) collation sequence. This ordering is used by regular expressions and pattern matching and, unless collation weights are explicity specified, also as the collation weight to be used in sorting.

Multiple weights and equivalence classes. Collating elements can be assigned one or more (up to the limit {COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX}) collating weights for use in sorting. The first weight is hereafter referred to as the primary weight.

One-to-Many mapping. A single character is mapped into a string of collating elements.

Equivalence class definition. Two or more collating elements have the same collation value (primary weight).

Ordering by weights. When two strings are compared to determine their relative order, the two strings are first broken up into a series of collating elements. The elements in each successive pair of elements are then compared according to the relative primary weights for the elements. If equal, and more than one weight has been assigned, the pairs of collating elements are recompared according to the relative subsequent weights, until either a pair of collating elements compare unequal or the weights are exhausted.

The following keywords are recognized in a collation sequence definition. They are
described in detail in the following sections.

copy

Specify the name of an existing locale which is used as the definition of this category. If this keyword is specified, no other keyword is specified.

collating-element

Define a collating-element symbol representing a multi-character collating element. This keyword is optional.

collating-symbol

Define a collating symbol for use in collation order statements. This keyword is optional.

order_start

Define collation rules. This statement is followed by one or more collation order statements, assigning character collation values and collation weights to collating elements.

order_end

Specify the end of the collation-order statements.

collating-element keyword

In addition to the collating elements in the character set, the collating-element
keyword is used to define multi-character collating elements. The syntax is:

"collating-element %s from \"%s\"\n",<collating-symbol>,<string>

The <collating-symbol> operand is a symbolic name, enclosed between angle brackets (<
and >), and must not duplicate any symbolic name in the current
charmap file (if any), or any other symbolic name defined in this
collation definition. The string operand is a string of two or more characters
that collates as an entity. A <collating-element> defined via this keyword is
only recognized with the LC_COLLATE category.

Example:

collating-element <ch> from “<c><h>”

collating-element <e-acute> from “<acute><e>”

collating-element <ll> from “ll”

collating-symbol keyword

This keyword will be used to define symbols for use in collation
sequence statements; that is, between the order_start and the order_end keywords. The
syntax is:

"collating-symbol %s\n",<collating-symbol>

The <collating-symbol> is a symbolic name, enclosed between angle brackets (< and
>), and must not duplicate any symbolic name in the current charmap
file (if any), or any other symbolic name defined in this collation definition.

A collating-symbol defined via this keyword is only recognized with the
LC_COLLATE category.

Example:

collating-symbol <UPPER_CASE>

collating-symbol <HIGH>

The collating-symbol keyword defines a symbolic name that can be associated with
a relative position in the character order sequence. While such a symbolic
name does not represent any collating element, it can be used as
a weight.

order_start keyword

The order_start keyword must precede collation order entries and also defines the
number of weights for this collation sequence definition and other collation rules.

The syntax of the order_start keyword is:

"order_start %s;%s;...;%s\n",<sort-rules>,<sort-rules>

The operands to the order_start keyword are optional. If present, the operands
define rules to be applied when strings are compared. The number of
operands define how many weights each element is assigned. If no operands
are present, one forward operand is assumed. If present, the first operand defines
rules to be applied when comparing strings using the first (primary) weight;
the second when comparing strings using the second weight, and so on.
Operands are separated by semicolons (;). Each operand consists of one or
more collation directives, separated by commas (,). If the number of operands exceeds
the {COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX} limit, the utility will issue a warning message. The following
directives will be supported:

forward

Specifies that comparison operations for the weight level proceed from start of string towards the end of string.

backward

Specifies that comparison operations for the weight level proceed from end of string towards the beginning of string.

position

Specifies that comparison operations for the weight level will consider the relative position of elements in the strings not subject to IGNORE. The string containing an element not subject to IGNORE after the fewest collating elements subject to IGNORE from the start of the compare will collate first. If both strings contain a character not subject to IGNORE in the same relative position, the collating values assigned to the elements will determine the ordering. In case of equality, subsequent characters not subject to IGNORE are considered in the same manner.

The directives forward and backward are mutually exclusive.

Example:

order_start forward;backward

If no operands are specified, a single forward operand is assumed.

Collation Order

The order_start keyword is followed by collating identifier entries. The syntax for
the collating element entries is:

"%s %s;%s;...;%s\n"<collating-identifier>,<weight>,<weight>,...

Each collating-identifier consists of either a character described in Locale Definition above,
a <collating-element>, a <collating-symbol>, an ellipsis, or the special symbol UNDEFINED. The
order in which collating elements are specified determines the character order sequence,
such that each collating element compares less than the elements following it.
The NUL character compares lower than any other character.

A <collating-element> is used to specify multi-character collating elements, and indicates that
the character sequence specified via the <collating-element> is to be collated as
a unit and in the relative order specified by its place.

A <collating-symbol> is used to define a position in the relative order
for use in weights. No weights are specified with a <collating-symbol>.

The ellipsis symbol specifies that a sequence of characters will collate according
to their encoded character values. It is interpreted as indicating that all
characters with a coded character set value higher than the value of
the character in the preceding line, and lower than the coded character set
value for the character in the following line, in the current coded
character set, will be placed in the character collation order between the
previous and the following character in ascending order according to their coded
character set values. An initial ellipsis is interpreted as if the preceding line
specified the NUL character, and a trailing ellipsis as if the following
line specified the highest coded character set value in the current coded
character set. An ellipsis is treated as invalid if the preceding or
following lines do not specify characters in the current coded character set. The
use of the ellipsis symbol ties the definition to a specific coded
character set and may preclude the definition from being portable beween implementations.

The symbol UNDEFINED is interpreted as including all coded character set values
not specified explicitly or via the ellipsis symbol. Such characters are inserted
in the character collation order at the point indicated by the symbol,
and in ascending order according to their coded character set values. If no
UNDEFINED symbol is specified, and the current coded character set contains characters
not specified in this section, the utility will issue a warning message
and place such characters at the end of the character collation order.

The optional operands for each collation-element are used to define the primary,
secondary, or subsequent weights for the collating element. The first operand specifies
the relative primary weight, the second the relative secondary weight, and so
on. Two or more collation-elements can be assigned the same weight; they belong
to the same equivalence class if they have the same primary weight. Collation
behaves as if, for each weight level, elements subject to IGNORE are
removed, unless the position collation directive is specified for the corresponding level with
the order_start keyword. Then each successive pair of elements is compared according
to the relative weights for the elements. If the two strings compare
equal, the process is repeated for the next weight level, up to
the limit {COLL_WEIGHTS_MAX}.

Weights are expressed as characters described in Locale Definition above, <collating-symbol>s, <collating-element>s,
an ellipsis, or the special symbol IGNORE. A single character, a <collating–symbol>
or a <collating–element> represent the relative position in the character collating sequence
of the character or symbol, rather than the character or characters themselves.
Thus, rather than assigning absolute values to weights, a particular weight is expressed
using the relative order value assigned to a collating element based on
its order in the character collation sequence.

One-to-many mapping is indicated by specifying two or more concatenated characters or
symbolic names. For example, if the character <eszet> is given the string
“<s><s>” as a weight, comparisons are performed as if all occurrences of the
character <eszet> are replaced by <s><s> (assuming that <s> has the collating
weight <s>). If it is necessary to define <eszet> and <s><s> as
an equivalence class, then a collating element must be defined for the
string ss.

All characters specified via an ellipsis will by default be assigned unique
weights, equal to the relative order of characters. Characters specified via an
explicit or implicit UNDEFINED special symbol will by default be assigned the
same primary weight (that is, belong to the same equivalence class). An ellipsis
symbol as a weight is interpreted to mean that each character in
the sequence has unique weights, equal to the relative order of their
character in the character collation sequence. The use of the ellipsis as
a weight is treated as an error if the collating element is neither
an ellipsis nor the special symbol UNDEFINED.

The special keyword IGNORE as a weight indicates that when strings are
compared using the weights at the level where IGNORE is specified, the
collating element is ignored; that is, as if the string did not
contain the collating element. In regular expressions and pattern matching, all characters that
are subject to IGNORE in their primary weight form an equivalence class.

An empty operand is interpreted as the collating element itself.

For example, the order statement:

<a> <a>;<a>

is equal to:

<a>

An ellipsis can be used as an operand if the collating element
was an ellipsis, and is interpreted as the value of each character
defined by the ellipsis.

The collation order as defined in this section defines the interpretation of
bracket expressions in regular expressions.

Example:

order_start

forward;backward

UNDEFINED

IGNORE;IGNORE

<LOW>

<space>

<LOW>;<space>

. . .

<LOW>;. . .

<a>

<a>;<a>

<a-acute>

<a>;<a-acute>

<a-grave>

<a>;<a-grave>

<A>

<a>;<A>

<A-acute>

<a>;<A-acute>

<A-grave>

<a>;<A-grave>

<ch>

<ch>;<ch>

<Ch>

<ch>;<Ch>

<s>

<s>;<s>

<eszet>

"<s><s>";"<eszet><eszet>"

order_end

This example is interpreted as follows:

The UNDEFINED means that all characters not specified in this definition (explicitly or via the ellipsis) are ignored for collation purposes; for regular expression purposes they are ordered first.

All characters between <space> and <a> have the same primary equivalence class and individual secondary weights based on their ordinal encoded values.

All characters based on the upper– or lower–case character a belong to the same primary equivalence class.

The multi-character collating element <ch> is represented by the collating symbol <ch> and belongs to the same primary equivalence class as the multi-character collating element <Ch>.

order_end keyword

The collating order entries must be terminated with an order_end keyword.

LC_MONETARY

The LC_MONETARY category defines the rules and symbols that are used
to format monetary numeric information. This information is available through the
localeconv(3C) function

The following items are defined in this category of the locale. The
item names are the keywords recognized by the localedef(1) utility when defining a
locale. They are also similar to the member names of the lconv
structure defined in <locale.h>. The localeconv function returns {CHAR_MAX} for unspecified integer
items and the empty string ("") for unspecified or size zero string items.

In a locale definition file the operands are strings. For some keywords,
the strings can contain only integers. Keywords that are not provided, string
values set to the empty string (""), or integer keywords set to
–1, are used to indicate that the value is not available in the
locale.

int_curr_symbol

The international currency symbol. The operand is a four-character string, with the first three characters containing the alphabetic international currency symbol in accordance with those specified in the ISO 4217 standard. The fourth character is the character used to separate the international currency symbol from the monetary quantity.

currency_symbol

The string used as the local currency symbol.

mon_decimal_point

The operand is a string containing the symbol that is used as the decimal delimiter (radix character) in monetary formatted quantities.

mon_thousands_sep

The operand is a string containing the symbol that is used as a separator for groups of digits to the left of the decimal delimiter in formatted monetary quantities.

mon_grouping

Define the size of each group of digits in formatted monetary quantities. The operand is a sequence of integers separated by semicolons. Each integer specifies the number of digits in each group, with the initial integer defining the size of the group immediately preceding the decimal delimiter, and the following integers defining the preceding groups. If the last integer is not –1, then the size of the previous group (if any) will be repeatedly used for the remainder of the digits. If the last integer is –1, then no further grouping will be performed.

The following is an example of the interpretation of the mon_grouping keyword. Assuming that the value to be formatted is 123456789 and the mon_thousands_sep is ', then the following table shows the result. The third column shows the equivalent string in the ISO C standard that would be used by the localeconv function to accommodate this grouping.

A string used to indicate a non-negative-valued formatted monetary quantity.

negative_sign

A string used to indicate a negative-valued formatted monetary quantity.

int_frac_digits

An integer representing the number of fractional digits (those to the right of the decimal delimiter) to be written in a formatted monetary quantity using int_curr_symbol.

frac_digits

An integer representing the number of fractional digits (those to the right of the decimal delimiter) to be written in a formatted monetary quantity using currency_symbol.

p_cs_precedes

In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard, an integer set to 1 if the currency_symbol precedes the value for a monetary quantity with a non-negative value, and set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the value.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3 standard, an integer set to 1 if the currency_symbol or int_currency_symbol precedes the value for a monetary quantity with a non-negative value, and set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the value.

p_sep_by_space

In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard, an integer set to 0 if no space separates the currency_symbol from the value for a monetary quantity with a non-negative value, set to 1 if a space separates the symbol from the value, and set to 2 if a space separates the symbol and the sign string, if adjacent.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3 standard, an integer set to 0 if no space separates the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol from the value for a monetary quantity with a non-negative value, set to 1 if a space separates the symbol from the value, and set to 2 if a space separates the symbol and the sign string, if adjacent.

n_cs_precedes

In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard, an integer set to 1 if the currency_symbol precedes the value for a monetary quantity with a negative value, and set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the value.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3 standard, an integer set to 1 if the currency_symbol or int_currency_symbol precedes the value for a monetary quantity with a negative value, and set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the value.

n_sep_by_space

In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard, an integer set to 0 if no space separates the currency_symbol from the value for a monetary quantity with a negative value, set to 1 if a space separates the symbol from the value, and set to 2 if a space separates the symbol and the sign string, if adjacent.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3 standard, an integer set to 0 if no space separates the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol from the value for a monetary quantity with a negative value, set to 1 if a space separates the symbol from the value, and set to 2 if a space separates the symbol and the sign string, if adjacent.

p_sign_posn

An integer set to a value indicating the positioning of the positive_sign for a monetary quantity with a non-negative value. The following integer values are recognized for both p_sign_posn and n_sign_posn:

In an application conforming to the SUSv3 standard:

0

Parentheses enclose the quantity and the currency_symbol.

1

The sign string precedes the quantity and the currency_symbol.

2

The sign string succeeds the quantity and the currency_symbol.

3

The sign string precedes the currency_symbol.

4

The sign string succeeds the currency_symbol.

In an application not conforming to the SUSv3 standard:

0

Parentheses enclose the quantity and the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.

1

The sign string precedes the quantity and the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.

2

The sign string succeeds the quantity and the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.

3

The sign string precedes the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.

4

The sign string succeeds the currency_symbol or int_curr_symbol.

n_sign_posn

An integer set to a value indicating the positioning of the negative_sign for a negative formatted monetary quantity.

int_p_cs_precedes

An integer set to 1 if the int_curr_symbol precedes the value for a monetary quantity with a non-negative value, and set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the value.

int_n_cs_precedes

An integer set to 1 if the int_curr_symbol precedes the value for a monetary quantity with a negative value, and set to 0 if the symbol succeeds the value.

int_p_sep_by_space

An integer set to 0 if no space separates the int_curr_symbol from the value for a monetary quantity with a non-negative value, set to 1 if a space separates the symbol from the value, and set to 2 if a space separates the symbol and the sign string, if adjacent.

int_n_sep_by_space

An integer set to 0 if no space separates the int_curr_symbol from the value for a monetary quantity with a negative value, set to 1 if a space separates the symbol from the value, and set to 2 if a space separates the symbol and the sign string, if adjacent.

int_p_sign_posn

An integer set to a value indicating the positioning of the positive_sign for a positive monetary quantity formatted with the international format. The following integer values are recognized for int_p_sign_posn and int_n_sign_posn:

0

Parentheses enclose the quantity and the int_curr_symbol.

1

The sign string precedes the quantity and the int_curr_symbol.

2

The sign string precedes the quantity and the int_curr_symbol.

3

The sign string precedes the int_curr_symbol.

4

The sign string succeeds the int_curr_symbol.

int_n_sign_posn

An integer set to a value indicating the positioning of the negative_sign for a negative monetary quantity formatted with the international format.

The following table shows the result of various combinations:

p_sep_by_space

2

1

0

p_cs_precedes= 1

p_sign_posn= 0

($1.25)

($1.25)

($1.25)

p_sign_posn= 1

+$1.25

+$1.25

+$1.25

p_sign_posn=
2

$1.25+

$1.25+

$1.25+

p_sign_posn= 3

+$1.25

+$1.25

+$1.25

p_sign_posn= 4

$+1.25

$+1.25

$+1.25

p_cs_precedes= 0

p_sign_posn= 0

(1.25 $)

(1.25 $)

(1.25$)

p_sign_posn= 1

+1.25 $

+1.25 $

+1.25$

p_sign_posn= 2

1.25$ +

1.25 $+

1.25$+

p_sign_posn= 3

1.25+ $

1.25 +$

1.25+$

p_sign_posn= 4

1.25$ +

1.25 $+

1.25$+

The monetary formatting definitions for the POSIX locale follow. The code listing
depicts the localedef(1) input, the table representing the same information with the addition
of localeconv(3C) and nl_langinfo(3C) formats. All values are unspecified in the POSIX
locale.

The entry n/a indicates that the value is not available in the
POSIX locale.

LC_NUMERIC

The LC_NUMERIC category defines the rules and symbols that will be
used to format non-monetary numeric information. This information is available through the
localeconv(3C) function.

The following items are defined in this category of the locale. The
item names are the keywords recognized by the localedef utility when defining
a locale. They are also similar to the member names of the
lconv structure defined in <locale.h>. The localeconv() function returns {CHAR_MAX} for unspecified
integer items and the empty string (“”) for unspecified or size zero
string items.

In a locale definition file the operands are strings. For some keywords,
the strings only can contain integers. Keywords that are not provided, string
values set to the empty string (“”), or integer keywords set to
–1, will be used to indicate that the value is not available in
the locale. The following keywords are recognized:

decimal_point

The operand is a string containing the symbol that is used as the decimal delimiter (radix character) in numeric, non-monetary formatted quantities. This keyword cannot be omitted and cannot be set to the empty string. In contexts where standards limit the decimal_point to a single byte, the result of specifying a multi-byte operand is unspecified.

thousands_sep

The operand is a string containing the symbol that is used as a separator for groups of digits to the left of the decimal delimiter in numeric, non-monetary formatted monetary quantities. In contexts where standards limit the thousands_sep to a single byte, the result of specifying a multi-byte operand is unspecified.

grouping

Define the size of each group of digits in formatted non-monetary quantities. The operand is a sequence of integers separated by semicolons. Each integer specifies the number of digits in each group, with the initial integer defining the size of the group immediately preceding the decimal delimiter, and the following integers defining the preceding groups. If the last integer is not -1, then the size of the previous group (if any) will be repeatedly used for the remainder of the digits. If the last integer is –1, then no further grouping will be performed. The non-monetary numeric formatting definitions for the POSIX locale follow. The code listing depicts the localedef input, the table representing the same information with the addition of localeconv values, and nl_langinfo constants.

The entry n/a indicates that the value is not available in the
POSIX locale.

LC_TIME

The LC_TIME category defines the interpretation of the field descriptors supported
by date(1) and affects the behavior of the strftime(3C), wcsftime(3C), strptime(3C),
and nl_langinfo(3C) functions. Because the interfaces for C-language access and locale definition differ
significantly, they are described separately. For locale definition, the following mandatory keywords
are recognized:

abday

Define the abbreviated weekday names, corresponding to the %a field descriptor (conversion specification in the strftime(), wcsftime(), and strptime() functions). The operand consists of seven semicolon-separated strings, each surrounded by double-quotes. The first string is the abbreviated name of the day corresponding to Sunday, the second the abbreviated name of the day corresponding to Monday, and so on.

day

Define the full weekday names, corresponding to the %A field descriptor. The operand consists of seven semicolon-separated strings, each surrounded by double-quotes. The first string is the full name of the day corresponding to Sunday, the second the full name of the day corresponding to Monday, and so on.

abmon

Define the abbreviated month names, corresponding to the %b field descriptor. The operand consists of twelve semicolon-separated strings, each surrounded by double-quotes. The first string is the abbreviated name of the first month of the year (January), the second the abbreviated name of the second month, and so on.

mon

Define the full month names, corresponding to the %B field descriptor. The operand consists of twelve semicolon-separated strings, each surrounded by double-quotes. The first string is the full name of the first month of the year (January), the second the full name of the second month, and so on.

d_t_fmt

Define the appropriate date and time representation, corresponding to the %c field descriptor. The operand consists of a string, and can contain any combination of characters and field descriptors. In addition, the string can contain the escape sequences \\, \a, \b, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v.

date_fmt

Define the appropriate date and time representation, corresponding to the %C field descriptor. The operand consists of a string, and can contain any combination of characters and field descriptors. In addition, the string can contain the escape sequences \\, \a, \b, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v.

d_fmt

Define the appropriate date representation, corresponding to the %x field descriptor. The operand consists of a string, and can contain any combination of characters and field descriptors. In addition, the string can contain the escape sequences \\, \a, \b, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v.

t_fmt

Define the appropriate time representation, corresponding to the %X field descriptor. The operand consists of a string, and can contain any combination of characters and field descriptors. In addition, the string can contain the escape sequences \\, \a, \b, \f, \n, \r, \t, \v.

am_pm

Define the appropriate representation of the ante meridiem and post meridiem strings, corresponding to the %p field descriptor. The operand consists of two strings, separated by a semicolon, each surrounded by double-quotes. The first string represents the ante meridiem designation, the last string the post meridiem designation.

t_fmt_ampm

Define the appropriate time representation in the 12-hour clock format with am_pm, corresponding to the %r field descriptor. The operand consists of a string and can contain any combination of characters and field descriptors. If the string is empty, the 12-hour format is not supported in the locale.

era

Define how years are counted and displayed for each era in a locale. The operand consists of semicolon-separated strings. Each string is an era description segment with the format:

direction:offset:start_date:end_date:era_name:era_format

according to the definitions below. There can be as many era description segments as are necessary to describe the different eras.

The start of an era might not be the earliest point For example, the Christian era B.C. starts on the day before January 1, A.D. 1, and increases with earlier time.

direction

Either a + or a – character. The + character indicates that years closer to the start_date have lower numbers than those closer to the end_date. The – character indicates that years closer to the start_date have higher numbers than those closer to the end_date.

offset

The number of the year closest to the start_date in the era, corresponding to the %Eg and %Ey field descriptors.

start_date

A date in the form yyyy/mm/dd, where yyyy, mm, and dd are the year, month and day numbers respectively of the start of the era. Years prior to A.D. 1 are represented as negative numbers.

end_date

The ending date of the era, in the same format as the start_date, or one of the two special values –* or +*. The value –* indicates that the ending date is the beginning of time. The value +* indicates that the ending date is the end of time.

era_name

A string representing the name of the era, corresponding to the %EC field descriptor.

era_format

A string for formatting the year in the era, corresponding to the %EG and %EY field descriptors.

era_d_fmt

Define the format of the date in alternative era notation, corresponding to the %Ex field descriptor.

era_t_fmt

Define the locale's appropriate alternative time format, corresponding to the %EX field descriptor.

era_d_t_fmt

Define the locale's appropriate alternative date and time format, corresponding to the %Ec field descriptor.

alt_digits

Define alternative symbols for digits, corresponding to the %O field descriptor modifier. The operand consists of semicolon-separated strings, each surrounded by double-quotes. The first string is the alternative symbol corresponding with zero, the second string the symbol corresponding with one, and so on. Up to 100 alternative symbol strings can be specified. The %O modifier indicates that the string corresponding to the value specified via the field descriptor will be used instead of the value.

LC_TIME C-language Access

The following information can be accessed. These correspond to constants defined in
<langinfo.h> and used as arguments to the nl_langinfo(3C) function.

ABDAY_x

The abbreviated weekday names (for example Sun), where x is a number from 1 to 7.

DAY_x

The full weekday names (for example Sunday), where x is a number from 1 to 7.

ABMON_x

The abbreviated month names (for example Jan), where x is a number from 1 to 12.

MON_x

The full month names (for example January), where x is a number from 1 to 12.

D_T_FMT

The appropriate date and time representation.

D_FMT

The appropriate date representation.

T_FMT

The appropriate time representation.

AM_STR

The appropriate ante-meridiem affix.

PM_STR

The appropriate post-meridiem affix.

T_FMT_AMPM

The appropriate time representation in the 12-hour clock format with AM_STR and PM_STR.

ERA

The era description segments, which describe how years are counted and displayed for each era in a locale. Each era description segment has the format:

direction:offset:start_date:end_date:era_name:era_format

according to the definitions below. There will be as many era description segments as are necessary to describe the different eras. Era description segments are separated by semicolons.

The start of an era might not be the earliest point For example, the Christian era B.C. starts on the day before January 1, A.D. 1, and increases with earlier time.

direction

Either a + or a – character. The + character indicates that years closer to the start_date have lower numbers than those closer to the end_date. The – character indicates that years closer to the start_date have higher numbers than those closer to the end_date.

offset

The number of the year closest to the start_date in the era.

start_date

A date in the form yyyy/mm/dd, where yyyy, mm, and dd are the year, month and day numbers respectively of the start of the era. Years prior to AD 1 are represented as negative numbers.

end_date

The ending date of the era, in the same format as the start_date, or one of the two special values, –* or +*. The value –* indicates that the ending date is the beginning of time. The value +* indicates that the ending date is the end of time.

era_name

The era, corresponding to the %EC conversion specification.

era_format

The format of the year in the era, corresponding to the %EY and %EY conversion specifications.

ERA_D_FMT

The era date format.

ERA_T_FMT

The locale's appropriate alternative time format, corresponding to the %EX field descriptor.

ERA_D_T_FMT

The locale's appropriate alternative date and time format, corresponding to the %Ec field descriptor.

ALT_DIGITS

The alternative symbols for digits, corresponding to the %O conversion specification modifier. The value consists of semicolon-separated symbols. The first is the alternative symbol corresponding to zero, the second is the symbol corresponding to one, and so on. Up to 100 alternative symbols may be specified. The following table displays the correspondence between the items described above and the conversion specifiers used by date(1) and the strftime(3C), wcsftime(3C), and strptime(3C) functions.

localedef

langinfo

Conversion

Keyword

Constant

Specifier

abday

ABDAY_x

%a

day

DAY_x

%A

abmon

ABMON_x

%b

mon

MON

%B

d_t_fmt

D_T_FMT

%c

date_fmt

DATE_FMT

%C

d_fmt

D_FMT

%x

t_fmt

T_FMT

%X

am_pm

AM_STR

%p

am_pm

PM_STR

%p

t_fmt_ampm

T_FMT_AMPM

%r

era

ERA

%EC, %Eg,

%EG, %Ey, %EY

era_d_fmt

ERA_D_FMT

%Ex

era_t_fmt

ERA_T_FMT

%EX

era_d_t_fmt

ERA_D_T_FMT

%Ec

alt_digits

ALT_DIGITS

%O

LC_TIME General Information

Although certain of the field descriptors in the POSIX locale (such as
the name of the month) are shown with initial capital letters, this
need not be the case in other locales. Programs using these fields
may need to adjust the capitalization if the output is going to
be used at the beginning of a sentence.

The LC_TIME descriptions of abday, day, mon, and abmon imply a Gregorian
style calendar (7-day weeks, 12-month years, leap years, and so forth). Formatting
time strings for other types of calendars is outside the scope of this
document set.

As specified under date in Locale Definition and strftime(3C), the field descriptors corresponding
to the optional keywords consist of a modifier followed by a traditional field
descriptor (for instance %Ex). If the optional keywords are not supported by
the implementation or are unspecified for the current locale, these field descriptors
are treated as the traditional field descriptor. For instance, assume the following keywords:

On 7/4/1776, the %x field descriptor would result in “The 4th day
of July in 1776” while 7/14/1789 would come out as “The 14
day of July in 1789” The above example is for illustrative purposes
only. The %O modifier is primarily intended to provide for Kanji or Hindi
digits in date formats.

LC_MESSAGES

The LC_MESSAGES category defines the format and values for affirmative and
negative responses.

The following keywords are recognized as part of the locale definition file.
The nl_langinfo(3C) function accepts upper-case versions of the first four keywords.

yesexpr

The operand consists of an extended regular expression (see regex(5)) that describes the acceptable affirmative response to a question expecting an affirmative or negative response.

noexpr

The operand consists of an extended regular expression that describes the acceptable negative response to a question expecting an affirmative or negative response.

yesstr

The operand consists of a fixed string (not a regular expression) that can be used by an application for composition of a message that lists an acceptable affirmative response, such as in a prompt.

nostr

The operand consists of a fixed string that can be used by an application for composition of a message that lists an acceptable negative response. The format and values for affirmative and negative responses of the POSIX locale follow; the code listing depicting the localedef input, the table representing the same information with the addition of nl_langinfo() constants.